


The Edge of the Devil's Backbone

by lilithenaltum



Series: The Southern Gothic MCU [1]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Thor (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - 1930s, Bank Robbery, Bittersweet Ending, F/F, F/M, Louisiana, M/M, Moonshine, Multi, Murder, Period-Typical Homophobia, Period-Typical Racism, Period-Typical Sexism, Small Towns, Threats of Rape/Non-Con, Witchcraft
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-27
Updated: 2018-04-27
Packaged: 2019-04-28 12:37:30
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 1
Words: 709
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14449434
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lilithenaltum/pseuds/lilithenaltum
Summary: Summer, 1935.Leonard "Loki" Laufeyson needs a fresh start. Leaving New York City is only the first step; keeping two paces ahead of trouble is the most important.When he reaches the little town of Pine Flat, Louisiana, he thinks he may have found his sanctuary. It's quiet, simple, and most of all, far away from gangsters and numbers runners. But Pine Flat holds a lot of dark secrets, and in the midst of this sleepy little community, murder and mayhem lurk around each corner.When he meets and falls for the vivacious Brunnhilde "Hilde" Greenwood, Loki gets more trouble than he'd anticipated down in the deep south.Murder. Moonshine. Money...just your everyday average Louisiana summer.





	The Edge of the Devil's Backbone

**Author's Note:**

> I appreciate all comments and kofi's thrown my way!

_Fairfax, Virginia_  
_June, 1996_

 

It was going be a hot one. She could feel it in the swelter of the air, in the stillness of the weak, limp breeze. The dust barely stirred and the sky was a blank canvas of dull blue. And it hadn't rained for weeks, at least since the end of April.

 

Only 8 am and already sweat rolled down her chest and back, but she sat stubbornly on the porch, a bowl of peas in her lap and a tune stuck in her head. It was one she hadn't sang in so long she thought she'd forgotten the words. But as she rocked and hummed and as her nails turned purple and green, little bits of legume stuck underneath, she began to remember. She stalled for a moment and glanced at her gnarled old hands, blinked back tears, and started under her breath.

 

 _Go to sleep you little baby...go to sleep  you little baby..._  
 

The stifled breeze around her began to swirl harder the longer she sang and the louder she got. She pushed off with a foot and picked up another pea pod, sliding her thumbnail across the bottom and slipping the peas into the waiting bowl expertly. There were footsteps from inside the house, little feet from the sounds of it, and she smiled as she continued to sing.

 

_Your mama's gone away and your daddy's gone to stay, didn't leave nobody but the baby._

 

The screen door creaked open and she turned her head to find a small round face yawning in the dull morning light. Still in her pajamas, the little girl rubbed sleep from her eyes and gave the old woman a sweet smile. The sun began to peak around the grey clouds, the wind drifting through the wrap around porch enough to jingle the chimes that hang from the roof. She paused her singing and held out a hand, heart warming as the girl's tiny body settled under the crook of her arm.

 

"Big Nanny?"

 

"Yes baby."

 

"Whatcha singin'?"

 

There was a pause in the breeze and the whole of time seemed to stand still as the old woman thought back to long ago, to a rickety old shack out in the woods and the mud of a dark dirt road. She thought of blood on her hands and tears on her cheeks, gun smoke in her lungs as she sobbed and screamed. It was a story far too dark for a little girl, but she knew that in time, her great granddaughter would have to know. They all would have to know. And one day, she'd get her story out, free her heart from the confines of 60 years of secrets.

 

"It's an old song, baby. Just an old song."

 

The little girl wiggled out from underneath the old woman and drug a milk crate from the corner to sit at her feet, leaning over to grasp a handful of peas and plop them into her lap. She stared for a moment in confusion, then back to the old woman, who chuckled and showed her how to shell the peas. A few damaged pods later and the girl caught on, smiling to herself as she worked quietly in the hot June morning.

 

When the stillness of the day wore on her nerves and the sweat got too much, she started to sing again, starting from the beginning, her voice low and deep and still as lovely as it had been years and years ago. Her granddaughter picked up her head and watched her rock and croon, picking up the lyrics of the refrain, and started to sing along. At first it was the tentative voice of a little girl not sure of the words, not certain of the melody. And then, as the wind stirred harder and the clouds gathered and little drops of rain began to fall, she sang boldly, grinning as she slipped her small hands into the bushel of peas and grabbed more. Before they'd made it to the end of the song, it begun to pour.

 

_Go to sleep you little baby...go to sleep you little baby...come on lay your bones on the alabaster stones, and be my everlovin' baby._

**Author's Note:**

> This is, if you've read any of my prompt fics, a continuation/fleshing out of a prompt I received a few months ago; I made the decision to turn it into a full out fic and there's a canon compliant prompt fic in this 'verse over at my prompts compilation, "Never Mind the Bullocks...". I hope you like this story as much as I have enjoyed writing and planning it. 
> 
> Updates will be weekly if at all possible.


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